Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden gave University of Michigan senior David Montague a $10,000 gift from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation on Thursday.

Worden also shared his experiences on Apollo 15, including his record-setting “farthest-from-earth” space walk during the nearly 300 hours Worden logged in space.

Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden gives University of Michigan senior David Montague a $10,000 scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Fund. Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan.

“It is my honor to present David with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Award,” Worden, who also serves as ASF chairman, said in a press release. “He is a dedicated researcher in the field of mathematics and has a passion and enthusiasm for the field that makes him an exceptional scholar. It is vital that America remains a technological leader in the world and that responsibility rests upon future generations, particularly students like David.”

Montague is majoring in mathematics and has a 4.0 GPA. His research in number theory has led to several published papers and conference presentations. He plans to earn a Ph.D. and pursue an academic career. In his personal time, he tutors young students in math and pursues martial arts.

The Astronaut Scholarship is the largest monetary award given in the United States to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit. Twenty scholarships were awarded this year through the ASF to outstanding college students majoring in science, engineering or math. More than $3 million has been awarded in scholarships to date. Since 2007, $40,000 has been awarded to U-M students.

Worden was one of 19 new astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He was backup Command Module pilot on Apollo 12 before being named to the prime crew of Apollo 15, along with Commander David Scott and Lunar Module pilot Jim Irwin.

The trio blasted off on July 26, 1971. Worden orbited the moon alone for three days in the command ship “Endeavour,” while Scott and Irwin drove the first Lunar Rover on the surface. On the homeward journey, Worden took the farthest-out space walk, moving along handrails on the outside of “Endeavour” to the rear of the ship to retrieve film cassettes from two moon-mapping cameras; he was 200,000 miles from Earth.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization established by the Mercury Astronauts in 1984. Its goal is to aid the United States in retaining its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships for exceptional college students pursuing degrees in those fields. Today, more than 80 astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs have joined.